From Farmington: 30 miles south, 6 miles east, and 70 million years back.
This is New Mexico's "Cretaceous Park." The dinosaurs were here, they
left their footprints, and we will follow them later.

The layers of mudstone, sandstone, and silt erode faster than the top
layers of shale and the hoodoos are formed: sculpted rock that
juts and imposes - and sometimes seems to pounce. The Bisti has been
compared to a moonscape and the eerie effect is heightened on a full
moon hike. High temperatures caused by oxidizing coal bakes the shale
red, which is a glorious view at dusk. Footprints disappear quickly.
If you want to get away from it all come to nowhere.

Come to Bisti and see it . . .

Written in Stone

Here is a proposed scenario of the end of the dinosaurs: 65 million
years
ago an object about 6 miles across struck the earth, and among other
catastrophes sent a cloud of dust into the air that blocked out sunlight
around the world.

This dust was rich in iridium, an element rarely found at the earth's
crust, but which is abundant in meteorites. As the dust settled it formed
a thin layer on top of the limestone of the Cretaceous Period.

This limestone is the burial ground of the dinosaurs, and the thin band
of iridium-rich clay that caps it seals their tomb. Above this divider
the Tertiary Period begins. This is a world-wide phenomenom and the
stratus may be seen in the Bisti.

If the asteroid had come into range of earth's orbit one hour earlier it
would have been a different story, and some say that humans wouldn't be
telling it.

Meanwhile . . .

If we had a brain at both ends would we know if we were coming or going?
Some dinosaurs had both - and they didn't know - but they were going.

North America has just broken away from Europe and is drifting eastward,
the giants are walking the earth, and North America crashes into the East
Pacific Plate and overruns it. Our continent buckles upward and the new
Rocky Mountains are formed.

For a cosmic moment an inland sea covers New Mexico. This is the violent
segue into the Age of Mammals as the Age of Reptiles ends and it is
written in the Bisti.

This area of northwest New Mexico was a coastal swamp with forests and
meadowlands further in. As the inland seas came north and the river flood
plains advanced the animal life was buried in the sediment.

The teeth and bones of fish, turtles, lizards, mammals, and dinosaurs can
be seen imbedded in the rocks. One third of the fossils here are unique
to the area.

Alamosauras sanjuanensis. Rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?
The "alamo" is named after Ojo Alamo spring, which is just south of
Farmington, NM, and the "sanjuanensis" is obvious:
the San Juan Basin, through which this last of the sauropods
waded. In South America these very same are called the Titanosaurids
and also lived during the Late Cretaceous period.

Now that we have the hang of it: Parasaurolophus and Kritosaurus
(duck-bill dinosaurs) and Pentaceratops (horned dinosaur) were present
and the duck-bills, who were the most common, left their footprints.
A relative of the Tyrannosaurus rex, 30 feet long and named Albertosaurus,
left his bones.

Bisti is pronounced Bistie in English. In Navajo it is written
Bis ta hi and pronounced pistxahi. One of my Navajo language "tutors"
tells me that this requires a juicy mouth, which is just another way to
be embarrassed while learning this language. The Navajo enjoy a good
laugh. Bisti means "badlands," which makes the Anglo name redundant.

This wilderness area includes the Bisti, which Congress
designated in 1984, and the De-Na-Zin, which had been
separate but was joined with the Bisti in 1996 for a
total of 44,600 acres.
Though it is open year round, it is wise
to call for conditions.

Farmington information: 1-800-448-1240

See the Four Corners Clamor:
Main Index
for more recent discoveries
and events concerning Native American Indians.

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For beautiful authentic scenes of these early peoples see the
Mark Silversmith Gallery.
Mark researches the tribes and portrays their lives of then and now.

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We encourage traditional Native American Indian
and Multicultural arts,
crafts, and enterprises. For quality creations
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for listings and contact information.